Monday, June 10, 2013

PERNANKILA

Pernankila is a small village about 20 Km from Udupi, on way to Hiriadka. The place has an old Udhbha Sri Maha Ganapathi and Sri Mahalingeshwara Temples.

It was on Saturday, 2nd June 2013, we went to this temple with Nalini sisters and Supriya and had darshan and grand lunch. The speciality of this place is "appa prasada", a ghee fried item.

It is believed that in Pernankila, the Lord Mahaganapathi is a Udbhava deity, who is also known as Swayambhoo (self incarnation). The divine idol of Mahaganapathi here was said to have been found by a lower class (scheduled caste) dalit farmer called Perna while ploughing his farm. The idol of Mahaganapathi hidden under the earth accidentally got stuck to his plough. As a result, the head portion of the idol was torn apart and astonishingly blood was gushing out of it. The farmer was awe stuck on seeing this unusual scene.

Severely perturbed Perna went to his home that day and saw an unusual dream that night. In his dream, Perna was ordained to keep upside down two Koppariges (jar that contains hidden treasure), one at the place where he found the Mahaganapathi Idol in his farm and the other near the Shivaalaya (the Shiva temple) and visit the two spots next morning.

Perna did according to the divine order which he received in his dream. To his surprise, when he visited the spots next day, he saw the place absolutely vacant where he originally found the Mahaganapathi idol, but located the same near the Shivaalaya under the Kopparige which he had placed upside down. Later, the idol was found in a nearby well and its upper portion was only visible. From that day, the village came to be known as Perna+Ankila (the plough), Pernankila.

It is widely believed that with the blessings of Lord Mahaganapathi, the dalit farmer Perna's name was immortalized and the village itself came to be identified with his name and the plough, i.e, Pernankila.

One of the epic stories says that one Kharasura established Lord Mahalingeshwara here thousands of years ago. During the reign of Alupas, it is belived, a temple for Lord Mahalingeshwara was constructed here. Historians believe that the existing structure of the temple is more than a thousand year old.

It is learnt from a rock edict found here that one Alupa queen had constructed the Mahalingeshwara temple here. But the tragedy is that historians have not been able to read the rock edict fully till date.